Rehabbing Efficiency
I am working on my first rehab. Keys to sucess appear to be speed, quality and cost. That being said, what methods have you found that allow you to work efficiently to capture the speed element? How do you avoid going to Home Depot and Lowes everyday? Do you work more with independent material suppliers? What works for you guys? My first experience has been quite good, but I want to learn and get better for the next rehab.
I handle up to 3 rehabs at a time and it stretches me a little bit..
I would suggest having HD deliver for the $60 it costs.
The key to this is doing it quick, I shoot for 3 weeks and usually end up with 4-5 to completion.
I like to have a complete turnaround in 60-90 days.
[addsig]
After hauling a full deck of pressure treated in my trailblazer last night I have definitely learned to use the HD delivery option moving forward. And after finding terrible service at Lowes, I have found a floor covering dealer that is great. Thanks for your comments.
Once you move beyond Lowes and Home Depot, your life will be much happier.
Use I]local, professional suppliers [/I] for almost everything: lumber, paint, drywall, tile, flooring, etc.
When I do have to go to HD, I am reminded that there is a whole world of professionals that I would much rather be dealing with.
You pick up a phone and ask a question, order materials, ask for names of subs, get discounts off retail, get much better quality of material...life is good.
Quote:
On 2005-08-08 11:30, jimingersoll wrote:
I am working on my first rehab. Keys to sucess appear to be speed, quality and cost. That being said, what methods have you found that allow you to work efficiently to capture the speed element? How do you avoid going to Home Depot and Lowes everyday? Do you work more with independent material suppliers? What works for you guys? My first experience has been quite good, but I want to learn and get better for the next rehab.
I will have to disagree and say that the key to success is planning.
Speed and cost are deriviative and directly in coorelation to how well you plan. Quality has little to do with any of the other three and has more to do with budget.
How do you avoid all those multiple trips? - planning.
Plan everything out. A little tip for you is to keep a clip board around while you are working and make lists of what tools you needed to do certain tasks, along with materials. Then later when you need to do the same tasks again, print out that list and make sure you have everything.
Use that clip board as you work to write down what you need for the next day.
There is nothing wrong with a trip to the store once a day, you need to avoid more than one trip a day.
Mike, that is just it. As you said quality is properly installed to the standards required of the material.
However - in the real world, you only have $50 budgeted for installation and pay some crack head handy man, Crack Head Bob, with a beat up 1974 subaru brat to install a cheap $40 garage sale vanity and a $1200 furniture quality vanity - and both are going to be installed sub-par.
You now have $200 in your budget to Pay a quality contractor, Bob the Builder to install both and the $40 garage sale vanity will look as nice as it can and the $1200 furniture quality vanity will be installed properly.
Example 2
You have $200 in your budget -
You need 10 kitchen cabinets installed
- with crack head Bob that pays for all 10 cabinets installed half/a$$ed.
- with builder Bob that pays for 3 of the cabinets installed correctly.
Moral - is what do most newbies do? The go with crack head.
I still say quality is controlled by your budget.
As far as Quality-of-Workmanship from contractors, I really believe that proper Communication between Investor and Contractor is of utmost importance. Think about it, as an Investor, your trying to get the most work out of a contractor for the cheapest price possible, right. I mean what Investor want to overpay? Then you have the contractor who is looking to do the least amount of work for a greater amount of pay. Within these 2 conficting statements lies the communication issues.
Put it in writing, ie materails (if contractor supplied) and specific workmanship qualities you, as the Investor, expect to see. This may require you, as an "Investor" to pay more attention to the details, but it can be very frustrating when a contractor calls you to say the job is done, and when you show up, you are completely disappointed. Again, go back and think about how you communicated your requests...
Rehab,
You say, "However - in the real world, you only have $50 budgeted for installation..."
"Only" is the key word, and a perfect indicator of a planning failure, which has an impact on your chances of achieving quality.
[addsig]
Rehabinator
I agree with you. About 10 years ago I used Crack Head Bob. After he did a half a$$ed job, he went back and stole the new carpet along with the copper plumbing.
Moral of the story;
Use "Bob the Builder"[ Edited by Darryle-CA on Date 08/16/2005 ]
StockPro99,
You are mistaken about these supply houses.. Once you open up accounts with these guys, you pick up the phone and place your order. They deliver for free. Many will deliver very small orders, like run over a gal of paint, if they are headed to that part of town.
AND, if I have to go by, it is far faster to get checked out thru a supply place then HD or Lowes.
AND, they are not always cheaper. I was looking at piece of molding there the other day-$5 for 8 ft. My lumber yard is $3.20.
Of course, they have their place with items that no one else really carries. Or, for one stop shopping if you have a long list.
It just works well when it is in addition to your professional supply houses.
Remember,
If you think hiring a professional is expensive, wait until you hire an amateur.
To achieve higher quality I am finding that I have to keep subs working within their field of expertise and not allow them to go much outside their initial scope of work. I have painters asking if they can swap out electrical outlets/plates, change my vanity top and repair my deck. I have learned to say NO to protect quality. How do you guys control scope of work in these situations?